1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for treating vascular, metabolic and functional imbalance of a limb by variations in pressure of a high-density fluid around said limb.
This invention is more particularly applicable to the treatment of vascular, metabolic and functional imbalance and edema of lower and/or upper limbs by external compression and decompression of one or more limbs of a patient, by virtue of the action of a high-density liquid such as mercury.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Particularly as disclosed in French patent No. 2,267,747, it is known to treat an edema of an upper or lower limb by producing pressure variations of a high-density liquid such as mercury around the limb. The apparatus described in the patent cited above makes it possible to subject the limb to be treated to a pressure which progressively increases towards the end of the limb and which is exerted at right angles to the surface of the skin. In order to obtain this pressure variation, there is provided in the known apparatus a fluid-tight bag into which the limb to be treated is introduced, said bag being surrounded by an enclosure within which mercury is caused to rise progressively from a bottom level represented by the bottom of the enclosure and corresponding to the end of the limb to be treated to a top level represented by the upper portion of the enclosure. The top level is adjacent to the root of the limb to be treated. The top and bottom levels are indicated visually. The rise of mercury within the enclosure is produced by pneumatic means (compressed gas) which displace the mercury and ensure that this latter progressively rises within the enclosure at a low and constant rate. When the mercury has reached the top level, the operator can maintain this level during a period of time which he chooses as a function of the treatment to be carried out, whereupon he opens a valve which enables the mercury to fall back into the enclosure simply under the action of gravity, at a fairly low and constant rate. These operations can then be repeated in the same manner. All these operations are controlled by hand.
The apparatus described in the patent cited earlier makes it possible to obtain spectacular reductions of edema, in particular lymphatic edema. However, recent studies made by the inventor show that, depending on the pathology to be treated, even more spectacular results can be obtained by respecting successive mercury-level stages within the enclosure during the rise and/or fall of the mercury. These results are improved even further by modifying the rate of rise and/or fall of mercury within the enclosure. These studies have also shown that the results obtained depend on the length of time during which the mercury is maintained at the top and/or bottom level within the tank and on the lengths of time during which it is maintained at intermediate levels during different sequences of the same compressive treatment.
Finally, these studies have shown that other therapeutic effects could be obtained by causing the mercury to rise and fall very rapidly and instantaneously along the limb or limbs to be treated, especially in arterial pathology and in states of muscular fatigue, after a strenuous sports activity, for example.
Known devices in the present state of the art, and particularly the device described in the patent cited earlier, do not make it possible to obtain controlled variability of the speeds (rates) of rise and/or fall of mercury within the enclosure. It should be added that they do not permit adjustment of the periods during which the mercury is maintained, in particular at the bottom level within the enclosure and at intermediate levels. Moreover, the known devices do not make it possible to control the rates of rise and/or fall of mercury between these different intermediate levels.
The precise aim of the invention is to overcome these disadvantages in order to carry out any treatment in the field of vascular, venous, lymphatic or arterial pathology by providing an apparatus which makes it possible to obtain automatically variable speeds of upward and/or downward displacement of mercury within the enclosure, to select automatically different levels of mercury within the tank as the mercury rises and/or falls, at which changes in speed of displacement can take place. The apparatus in accordance with the invention offers the further possibility of maintaining the mercury at the top and/or bottom level or at intermediate levels between these two levels during adjustable predetermined periods of time.